Our hero's journey begins at the castle's long-winding, rainy exterior, its damp surface patrolled by your average zombies, bats, and other basic adversaries; a long trip over a two-level bridge is halted by a meeting with the mid-boss. Its defeat gives way into the more-contained outskirts of the Count's oppressive haunt and immediately the game's first split path. The upper path, whose breaching requires no special work, consists of several rooms of zigzag platforming, then a long drop downward via crumbling platforms while under assault by an endless crop of rolling eyeballs, which drop in from above. The lower path is home to a small bridge deluged by rolling eyeballs and guarded by the next stage's mid-boss, which makes a cameo here; there's in following a short climb upward leading to the convergence point and then the stage boss.

Stage Track: Reincarnated Soul
Mid-Boss Track: Gauntlet
Boss Track: Final Battle

Mid-Boss: Phantom Bat
End Boss: Giant Eyeball

Zombie | Bat | Large Rolling Eyeball | Rolling Eyeball | Skeleton | Raven | Amoebae

The earlygoing features more of the decor seen in the previous area, now with knights and destructible chandeliers as newly encountered dangers. The procuring of a key and the opening of a nearby door will allow access to a lever that opens the castle's drawbridge, which leads into the main halls. Should you avoid lowering the drawbridge, you can instead take the lower route into the dark, dank caverns with their dangerous vermin, deadly pools, and tricky water wheels of varying acceleration; a nearby elevator leads the stage's final area, skipping the mid-boss. On the upper path, more of the same halls lead up to the area's peak, which houses a room of treasures (accessed using a key hidden somewhere in the surroundings) and the opening to a long gap that drops Christopher into the caverns. If you save the key, you can use it to take a shortcut through some dimly lit caves, being careful not to whip away your only light-sources, and reach an elevator. The altogether similar caverns on the normal route are otherwise patrolled by fishmen and negotiated via crumbling platforms; the mid-boss makes its home here. The previously mentioned elevator, found again here, carries Chris back up into the halls, where faced in succession will be three rooms of punaguchis, all stationed on different platform types. A short trek thereafter leads to the stage boss.

Stage Track: Lullabye Sent to the Devil
Mid-Boss Track: Gauntlet
Boss Track: Final Battle

Mid-Boss: Amoebae
End Boss: Man-Beast

Knight | Bat | Moa | Punaguchi | Fleaman | Fishman | Skeleton | Mutant Rat | Octo | Centipod

The ol' torture lab's devious traps are more of a concern than its enemies, which are placed in certain locations purely to annoy and distract. Rotating platforms; flame-spewing skeletons, mounted everywhere; and stabbing lances, which suddenly dart out from their obvious slots, will test your reflexes and platforming skills. An upper bridge leads to the stage's next section, where bone pillars and horizontally-moving, crushing spike columns are among those added to the mix. Using one such column as a bridge, you can break a wall to access a secret path that like others lets you skip the mid-boss. Either route leads to chambers filled with large swinging scythes and associated spike traps, the straight path interrupted by the mid-boss. Continuing on the normal trail, either path takes you to areas where Medusa heads and spiked-pinwheel contraptions will provide more platforming peril. Traps encountered thereafter include vertical-stabbing spears, spinning scythes, and crushing spike beds. If you survive the madness, the none-too-hospitable boss will greet you.

Stage Track: New Messiah
Mid-Boss Track: Gauntlet
Boss Track: Final Battle

Mid-Boss: Bone Dragon King
End Boss: Spectral Blade

Flame-Spewing Skull | Skeleton | Blood Skeleton | Rope Skeleton | Bat | Bone Pillar | Rolling Eye | Medusa Head | Zeldo | Skeledragon | Raven | Ectoplasm

There's no time to admire the stain-glass backdrop, as the knight-led ambush begins immediately. What may catch you off guard are the many chandeliers seen overhead; each will certainly fall onto your head (or onto enemies, often killing them) if you don't dodge them accordingly. Vertical chambers stuffed with Medusa heads and skeletons follow. These lead to a series of looped two-level rooms--a maze of doors whose trick is that Christopher can retreat through a just-entered door and arrive at a new location; by finding two keys and opening back-to-back doors in a heavily guarded room, you can work your way into a secret area--a rodent-filled cave that again skips the mid-boss and generously places you at stage's end. If the normal path is figured, the "prized" mid-boss encounter will instead be yours. Its domain leads outside to a tower, which you must climb while dealing with the expected dangers; the tower's top leads left, out onto a crumbling bridge crowded with skeletons and the large skull lords. A second bridge leads into the heart of the tower, where the boss awaits.

Stage Track: Load BGM
Mid-Boss Track: Gauntlet
Boss Track: Final Battle

Mid-Boss: Succubus
End Boss: Giant Golem

Knight | Skeleton | Blood Skeleton | Skeledragon | Bone Dragon | Medusa Head | Large Rolling Eyeball | Punaguchi | Centipod | Zeldo | Peeping Eye | Knife Lizard | Mutant Rat | Large Spider | Raven | Skull Lord

You'll early on meet the spike-armored sentries, who'll teach you that something's not dead simply because it lay motionless. More moving platforms, inconveniently placed enemies, and sinking-on-contact grandfather clocks will be your main obstacles. Falling chandeliers, rolling eyeballs, spectral-type enemies and more litter the following areas, where they try their hardest to knock you into bottomless pits. In following is the main area of the clock tower, where rooms of spinning gears, Medusa heads, floating pillars, and the typical fare will be faced. A mid-boss is not far off. Knights, skeletons, Medusa heads and others will team up to make difficult the next leg of your increasingly cramped trek up the next tower. Reversible steps and an out-of-control elevator, whose shaft is filled with spike-lined platforms, will be your next challenges. Not-so-fun pendulum-swinging combined with close-quarters combat fills out the rest of the stage.

Stage Track: Aquarius
Mid-Boss Track: Gauntlet
Boss Track: Final Battle

Mid-Boss: The Monster
End Boss: Death

Armored Sentry | Bat | Skeleton | Fleaman | Raven | Large Rolling Eyeball | Knight | Zeldo | Peeping Eye | Ectoplasm | Ghost | Medusa Head | Punaguchi | Blood Skeleton

A familiar-looking staircase lies before Christopher, the only danger the abyss directly below. The endless swarm of bats circling the castle heights are the only sign of life. Once you climb the stairs, you'll be in a short hall filled with candelabrs, which contain hearts and any of the striking sub-weapons you wish to equip. A short passage thereafter leads to the throne room, where the chuckling Count Dracula awaits our hero--the "ally of worthless humans," he so proclaims. A three-stage battle with the highly motivated Dark Lord is all that stands in the way of victory.

Stage Track: Vampire Killer
Dracula Phase 1: Gauntlet
Dracula Phase 2: Final Battle
Dracula Phase 3: Riddle

End Boss: (1) Dracula, (2) Dracula's Ghost, (3) Final Dracula

Bat